


Beauty walks the razor's edge (I'll give you shelter from the storm)

by KawaiiKitsuneGirl



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst, Diego Hargreeves Being Good At Feelings, Diego POV, Emotions, Ever - Freeform, Feelings, Good Brother Diego Hargreeves, Have I mentioned that that is my favourite tag, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Implied/Referenced Suicide attempt, Klaus Hargreeves Deserves Better, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Klaus Hargreeves-centric, The rest are mostly just referenced, canon character death, i love these two so much, i'm drowning in them, lots of them - Freeform, mostly diego and klaus, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-10
Updated: 2019-03-10
Packaged: 2019-11-15 05:47:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18067715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KawaiiKitsuneGirl/pseuds/KawaiiKitsuneGirl
Summary: “We’ve got a jumper! Looks like he’s a junkie, definitely talking to himself a bit, and he sounds kinda young. Get over here quick will you? Over,”Diego pauses, and thinks for a horrifying moment that it sounds like the old Klaus, the Klaus that had lived on the streets and overdosed every other day, and it’s that thought that leads him to the bridge, parked slightly down the road, but on the scene nonetheless.(Because maybe it’s not Klaus, and maybe his heart stopped for a beat anyway, and maybe that is somebody else’s Klaus and he could never forgive anyone who had the power to save Klaus and didn’t).Prompt!Fill





	Beauty walks the razor's edge (I'll give you shelter from the storm)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kaya_mckay](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaya_mckay/gifts), [DearLittleRobin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DearLittleRobin/gifts).



It’s midnight again, and Diego isn’t asleep.

He’s been getting better these past few months, better at tying up his past and leaving it behind him when he sleeps, when he wakes, when he fights, but he hasn’t yet brought himself to let go of the last remnant of his old life (the only thing that gives his   
new life any structure).

He sits quietly in the chair, back bowed and eyes closed, just listening to the quiet of the night- the quiet sounds of fists hitting skin and fabric and bone and sand- and he doesn’t dare to hope yet, but he’ll go to sleep after he answers the next call.

Maybe tomorrow, he will go to sleep a call earlier.

Suddenly, the radio crackles to life in front of him, the sound blaring out from the slightly battered box as it lies unforgotten on the table in front of him.

“We’ve got a jumper! Over,” it screams out, and Diego wonders somewhat blearily whether he should call it a night now. He’s a little useless at the emotional side of things, and by the time he reaches a bridge, the police are already there and either the jumper   
has jumped or has been brought back in.

“Are you sure? Over,” a voice, deeper than the first one, returns, and Diego recognises it as his fellow trainee Amit. There, a reliable person who is bound to be closer to the scene than he is.

He reaches out to turn it off, and it says “We’re pretty sure. Looks like he’s a junkie, definitely talking to himself a bit, and he sounds kinda young. Get over here quick will you? Over,” 

Diego pauses, and thinks for a horrifying moment that it sounds like the old Klaus, the Klaus that had lived on the streets and overdosed every other day, and it’s that thought that leads him to the bridge, parked slightly down the road, but on the scene   
nonetheless.

(Because maybe it’s not Klaus, and maybe his heart stopped for a beat anyway, and maybe that is somebody else’s Klaus and he could never forgive anyone who had the power to save Klaus and didn’t).

Still, he walks a little closer despite the shine of police lights and the throng of people that stand in somewhat horrified fascination, and the man is still somewhere out on the side of the bridge, a lone dark figure against the rusted metal.

From what he can make out, the guy’s tall and thin, although hunched over, and wearing a thin little jacket like the type Klaus favoured, and if he looks really closely, the gleam from the headlights on the river shows that there is extra material floating down   
across his leg’s, a ghost’s shroud on one still living, and Diego realises in a flash of terror that it’s a dress.

The jumper isn’t a boy like the one Klaus had one been. It’s Klaus.

He marches nearer, panic colouring his movements brusque with impatient horror, and it’s easy work to brush aside the crowd and step under the cordoned off area to where Amit and a few other officers stand. The back of his mind notes that it must be a   
slow night if this many police are available, and then the front of his mind forces the thought away, because he has more important things to deal with right now.

“Diego?” Amit asks, confused, and Diego shoots him a tight grimace, mouth non-cooperative right now.

“Hey Amit,” he responds, not taking his eyes off the silhouette of Klaus, all alone on the end of the beam as it sticks out across the water.

“What are you doing here?” he asks Diego, and Diego considers his answer for a moment, and decides he hasn’t got much time to waste.

“I was in the area, thought I would check in on you guys…how long’s he been there?” 

Amit doesn’t take long to respond. “We got here about ten minutes ago, but he’s unresponsive. Waiting on Sue to come down and bring him in…she said she’d be here in fifteen,”

Diego’s eyes widen as he realises that nobody is currently trying to help his little brother, because fifteen minutes is a lifetime, especially whilst sitting over the edge of a fierce and unforgiving river.

“Damnit, why isn’t anyone helping?” he curses, not really expecting a response, and knowing that no matter what they’ve gone through and no matter what Klaus thinks of him, Diego has to try and help.

“It’s too dangerous,” Amit responds sadly, eyes also fixed on the figure sat around five metres away. 

Diego doesn’t care. He strides forwards, slinging one leg over the side of the bridge, and then the other, straddling the beam as he gets closer to Klaus.

“Wait, Diego, what are you doing? That’s not safe, you need to come back!” he can hear Amit shouting behind him, and he is well aware that it isn’t safe, but some things are more important than safety.

Like his little brother.

“Number Four!” he yells, using his lungs to their full capacity. 

“What the hell, Diego?!” Amit shouts, and Diego is suddenly conscious that he hasn’t told the others that he is a Hargreeve, let alone attempted to explain the whole section of his life where he had no name and only a number, because he was happy in his   
anonymity, but fuck he needs to do this. He hates himself for even considering that he could place his comfortability over Klaus’ life, and it’s guilt that forces him a step further away from the main bridge.

“Number Four!” he yells again, and this time Four turns his head to meet his eyes, a jerky and abrupt movement toned with panic and Two can see his sibling’s wide eyes even from this distance.

“You are not allowed to die! Do you hear me? How do you want me to explain to Seven that all three of her favourite siblings are dead?” he screams, and Klaus flinches as the words hit.

Far, far away, Amit speaks into a radio, and Diego consciously tunes out the words and tunes out the consequences. 

Two takes another step forward.

“It wasn’t bad enough that Five and Six are gone? You thought you would leave her too?” he accuses Four, and this time he knows that ‘her’ really means ‘him’ because Klaus is not allowed to leave him, not after all they’ve been through.

“Two…”Klaus mutters, quiet and hard to catch, and Diego only hears it because he’s almost reached him by now and there are only a few paces between him and Klaus (and Klaus and the edge), and he takes it as encouragement that he’s been recognised.

“Yes, Four, it’s Two. Now, get back here, and we’ll go discuss this with some blankets and coffee (which is a lie- he’s not giving Klaus anything addictive or energy boosting, not ever again, but if it gets Klaus to return, then he’d say anything).

“Why?” Klaus asks, and it’s Diego’s turn to flinch. His brother sounds so lost, and for the first time, Diego wonders why it is that Klaus is up here at all.

“Why do I want to help you?” Diego asks, slightly quieter and infinitely more tender.

“Why do you care,” he whispers, and it forces a lump into Diego’s throat at the sheer amount of weariness contained in the simple words, and he has to swallow before he can force his response out.

“Because you are my baby brother. Klaus,” he says, and forces Klaus to focus back on him and not contemplate the dark waves below. 

“Because you snuck into my room when we were five, and made me build pillow forts with you until we woke up Ben. Because you poured milk all over the floor when Dad took away Vanya’s violin, and shouted at him until he locked you up instead. Because   
you painted Allison’s nails everyday when Luther broke her arm, and because you snuck out the house before you said goodbye,” Klaus sniffles, and Diego keeps going.

“Because we shared the bed whenever you had a nightmare. B-Because I have nightmares of you overdosing in a back alley, all alone. Be-Because you didn’t come to me when Ben died, and- and I heard you crying all night and I never came to you. Because- I-   
l-l-love you, Klaus,” Diego forces the words out, and finally is near enough to stroke Klaus’ cheek with his calloused fingers, and catch the tear that falls down his face with every reason Diego gives.

“I thought you hated me,” Klaus gasps, breath hitching with sorrow as more tears begin to fall.

“I could never hate you,” Diego comforts, and pulls Klaus slowly towards him and away from the edge. Klaus bites his lip, causing blood to trickle down the edges of his chin, and Diego wishes that he could stop and force his brother to stop, but their priority   
is to get back onto stable ground first. 

It takes an age for Klaus to get back safely, and he doesn’t feel like he breathes again until his wild, high-maintenance, broken sibling has climbed back over the barrier and onto the side-walk. They collapse there, and Diego is overjoyed that Klaus is safe, but   
his joy turns quickly to concern as he sees the way that Klaus’ shoulders shake as they sit crumpled on the hard ground.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Diego smiles sadly, pulling his baby brother towards him into a hug, and holding him there by the back of his head even as Klaus breaks down and sobs brokenly into his leather jacket, the hot tears soaking into his skin as he begins to   
process what he had almost done, and all of the things that Diego had said.

“Did you mean all of that?” Klaus sniffs, red eyes tentatively peeking out of the comfort of the jacket as Diego responds. 

“Yes, Klaus, I-I did,” he grins down, eyes gleaming with unshed tears as Diego realises that Klaus is alive and safe, and maybe not well yet, but not dead.

“…Can I stay with you tonight?” Klaus whispers, and Diego simply nods, becoming increasingly aware of the people that are staring at them from all around, a fair distance away, but watching them nonetheless.

“Come on, let’s go,” he commands Klaus, pulling the two of them upright and allowing the younger to wipe at his eyes as they begin to move away, back towards where Diego had parked the car earlier, and Diego doesn’t mind that he is practically carrying his   
brother as he stumbles on.

“Diego?” a voice asks from nearby, and Diego almost continues walking, but he somewhat figures that Amit deserves a small explanation for what’s going on.

“Amit,” he responds, but doesn’t stop (because Klaus is still his priority and will probably remain his priority for a while now).

“Can you please tell me what the hell that was,”

“Damnit Amit, just let me get my b-b-b,” Diego begins strong, but can’t force his last word out, despite having already decided that he doesn’t care if his secret is out. He can feel Amit staring at him still, because of course the stammer is something he hides   
as well, and it only makes him angrier, which does not help him speak at all.

“My b-b-b-brother,” he grinds out, the effort forcing beads of sweat to rise up on his brow. “To the car,”

“Your brother?” Amit repeats in shock, apparently deciding to ignore the stammer, but Diego knows that he’ll just be questioned on that part later instead. 

“Yes,” he answers quickly, not wanting to repeat the fuck-up he’d made of his last comment.

“I understand,” Amit responds softly, and shoots him a small smile filled with confusion and compassion which honestly just confuses Diego more. “Go look after your brother,”

Diego foregoes a reply, and limps on with Klaus still tucked somewhat awkwardly into his side, pressing past the crowds of people without a thought, and only stopping again when they reach the dark safe haven of his car.

“Come on Klaus,” he murmurs quietly, pulling open the front passenger door, and unwinding Klaus into the seat, where the man sits silently, with the occasional tremor running through his body.

Diego himself sits in the front seat, shutting his door with a loud slam that startles them both. He puts the key in the engine, but pauses before turning it, and looking instead at the wreck of a brother that sits beside him.

“Klaus,” he says, breaking the silence again, and Klaus looks up fearfully, eyes kind of glazed and hurting, always hurting. “Next time, just come to me, okay? Please?” Diego somewhat asks, somewhat orders, somewhat begs, and Klaus just gives a small, shaky   
nod.

It is enough.

Diego turns the key, and drives the two of them far, far away from the bridge and far, far away from the night. And next time, when Klaus arrives quietly on his doorstep with hands that tremble and eyes that seek forgiveness and an ending, Diego lets him in and they share the bed like two frightened boys, sheltering from the never-ending storm outside their room.


End file.
